Lowben Drive - Wislocki Self Build

Picture Update

2007-06-18T12:49:00.000+01:00

After the last entry, here's a plethora of images for you. We've been living in the house for 2 weeks now, but we're still busy.
Lowben Drive from the front, stood on the driveway. Garage base is off shot to the left. The blazing sun has burnt the chimney off.

View from the back garden,

and the back garden again - spent a day levelling & raking to get it somewhere near right. Needs a quick rotivate, re-rake, then turf the future lawn.

The entrance hall,

and landing above.

Still minor things to do - put up curtains, change some light fittings, but at least it's taking shape.

I've finally put up the extractor fan in the kitchen, but we're undecided on handles for the cabinets, I ought to put it out to vote!

Nearly there!

2007-06-01T16:29:00.000+01:00

We're moving our furniture into Lowben Drive this weekend!
We've bought and erected new beds for the kids, and they're very excited about moving in.
Our painter has finished finally, after dragging it out from <2weeks to nearly 4!
We're very annoyed with him actually, as now we're doing the final clean we realise he didn't use his dust sheet for every coat - we're now scraping it off flooring, worktops & hearths, and cursing him.
If you want something done properly...
We're awaitng the final inspection from Building Control, then we can swap from self build mortgage to regular mortgage and save a few quid, and set the wheels in motion with HM Revenue & Customs regarding reclaiming the VAT.
No pics this post - they'll act as spoilers to anyone who's due to visit shortly. I promise to post some soon, just got to poplish the floors first.
Plan to concrete the garage floor tomorrow morning. as well as being removals man.
A new part of the building regs aims at minimising heat loss via leaks in the fabric of the building. This is checked on completion by carrying out an air test on the property. A large fan is fitted and sealed over the front door frame, and the house pressurised, and the pressure loss measured over time. Generally a house is designed to limit losses to 10 cubic meters per square meter at 50Pa, although by carefully following certain building details 7.5 can be acheived.
Knowing this was immenent I dutifully sealed around every service penetration, made sure I had good joints on all the laps in the vapour membrane; and it all paid off.
Lowben Drive acheived 3.45 - the lowest the engineers had ever recorded!
Maybe we should build houses full time ;-)
(at least i've something to fall back on!)
Do come and visit soon, and experience Wislocki Towers

Painting

2007-05-17T07:52:00.000+01:00

Progress is being made with the painting, and we should be substantially complete by the weekend! We're planning to move in shortly. Just a few minor things to complete [like handles on kitchen units, doors, tile utility room floor], and a bunch of landscaping outside. Lowri is kindly modelling the hallway for us. She'll often ask if she can see her room, and likes being taken into the build to check on progress. We've toned down the amount of pink in her bedroom but she doesn't seem to mind.

Bens showing us his socks in the kitchen, while sporting ther remainder of his chicken pox.

And ben again on the landing. I'm pleased with how light the house is turning out to be - some people had expressed concerns, but they are proven to be unfounded.

Lot of cleaning now prior to the big (short) move. We may require volunteers for this process, the shortest route is to throw furniture off the flats balcony, but we may resort to carrying it round.

More Work

2007-04-30T09:17:00.000+01:00

Since the last posting, things haven't progressed quite as quickly as we'd have liked.

Combination of factors affecting this - I've been working in Powick (near Worcester), Bristol and Ferndale (near Bournemouth) concurrently. As a result I've been getting home later than has been the recent norm, and therefore getting little or nothing done in the evenings.

We underestimated the shear volume of painting required - 1300 square meters [14000+ sq ft!] of wall & ceiling, all requiring 3+ coats, and the prepping and glossing of the woodwork).

We've painted approx 50% walls/ceilings and glossed approx 15% woodwork ourselves, but now we're getting someone in to finish the painting.

We have however laid our foul drainage and connected it into the sewer (thanks Ken - pictured driving the minidigger), constructed the soil & vent stacks,

dug & concreted the garage foundations and retaining walls each side of the house (thanks Joe, Jake, Gramp), carried out soil percolation tests to assess suitability for rainwater soakaway, completed laying 100square metres of flooring.

Other notable events include Ben learning to ride his bike without stabilisers, Ben crashing at speed onto his face and being kept in hospital overnight with concussion. For the record he was wearing a helmet.

Should be more pics of finished rooms next update, but here's the promised layouts :

I will now offer a plan drawing service to try & recoup some of the build costs!

Mid March Update

2007-03-16T23:14:00.000Z

A few more pics, and a less than original title, but it's getting late, and I've already been out painting (after work & kids to bed);

loads going on at the moment.

More trouble with plumbers, but progress in general still good.

Been painting walls & ceilings...

installing kitchens and having worktop fitted..

Here's looking from kitchen thru' to sunroom, with tiles stacked ready for laying..

The utility room taking shape - units sink & worktop in, appliances still to stick under right hand side. Straight thru' is the WC.

I'll have to save my autocad drawings as PDFs and publish them so people can view the layout.

Here's some flooring I prepared earlier. We have this in six rooms, so only another 85sqm to lay!

And stairs - meaning Sarah's mum has been able to view upstairs for the first time. Hand railing soon, so watch this space.

Early March Update

2007-03-06T12:14:00.000Z

Been busy since the last entry
Scaffold has come down, down pipes put up, downpipes removed for painting, three coats of masonry paint, and a light dusting of snow!

Sarah & Ben assembling units for the utility room (in the lounge).

Start putting kitchen units in place

Second fix electrics to commence immanently, and boiler to go in, so heating should be on soon.

Getting Plastered

2007-01-18T13:10:00.000Z

Plaster has been applied in the last week or so. Here's the landing. Note the absence of stairs to date.

Sun room thru' to kitchen

Hall way - with new front door fitted.

I need a fish eye/wide angle lens to take pics of the bedroom etc, so I'm not bothering to publish them.

De-humidifier running at the moment, though I'm not sure the house/plaster is that wet for it to make much difference.
When it is dry, painting will commence.

Still a lot of work to do to the exterior - we have a few skips worth of rubbish to dispose of, downpipes, drainage, landscaping (driveway, retaining walls, patio, steps & paths). And we have to start it all again on a smaller scale with the garage.

There's still plenty to do if anyone's bored of an evening/weekend!

Christmas Break!

2007-01-09T10:50:00.000Z

Not much of a break, as we only had Christmas Day & Lowri's Birthday (Boxing day) off working on the house.
Mostly spent filling external walls & 1st floor ceiling with thermal insulation, internal walls with acoustic insulation, fixing timber noggins (for fixing plasterboards), and fixing vapour control layer in place.

Topping Out
on the 23rd Dec our brickies finished the chimney. Not often you'll see it from this angle.

We have enlisted the help of the migrant workforce over the holidays, our antipodean visitor learning about insulation (they won't believe him in Sydney).
Darren is currently on a 45day round the world trip, to which there is a blog, http://rtw45days.blogspot.com/ .
The insulation is itchy, and fibres are released when you cut it, hence the PPE (personal protective equipment).
We also try to employ local labour when possible, so thanks also to Gramp and Wendy for their insulating

Here's an external wall, consisting of 140mm of mineral wool insulation (Isowool Frame Batt 43) - [I would link their URL, but their site is rubbish], and a vapour control layer -polythene - overlaid (said to prevent condensation).

Our 'tackers' made a start, fixing the plasterboard prior to the plasterer skimming. Here's the kitchen nearly boarded.

Bobby our plasterer is also rendering the exterior, which is now complete. Given some dry weather we'll try & paint it. (and fix the downpipes)

Pre Christmas Update

2006-12-21T15:16:00.000Z

We've been very busy since the last posting.
The chimney has been going up, the rough coat of external render has been applied, first floor undefloor heating installed, electrical first fix, plumbing first fix completed. We've been stuffing insulation into walls too, and lining with the vapour barrier (prevents condensation), and the dry liners are in fixing our plasterboards on the ground floor. Had thought we might fix plasterboards ourselves as well, but then I wouldn't see the kids over my Christmas break (there'll be enough to do fitting the rest of the insulation). I'm looking forward to some lie-ins, kids permitting, to catch up on some sleeep! (20 hour day yesterday).
I've no recent pictures of the outside, as it's dark when I leave for work, dark when I get home; then I'm too busy to think of photos of the internal work (these pics about 1week old).
Should remedy it over Christmas, so expect some further updates.

End of Week Nine

2006-12-04T14:54:00.000Z

Outer cladding is progressing well (but could be quicker - scheduling roofers, brickies & scaffolders to work around each other)

The face brickwork stops at groundfloor window, with cream render above.

Floor screed has been placed - covering underfloor heating pipes. It dries out at 2mm per day, so no floor coverings for at least one month (screed is 65mm thick).

It's suprising how much difference the screed makes to the inside, it looks very different now (nearer a finished state I suppose)

Some Pics

2006-11-29T11:58:00.000Z

Brother Joe labouring on the brickies

Russ laying blocks to the sun room. The external ground levels need to be made up yet - if you're wondering about the big step to the front door & french doors.

Kitchen through to Sunroom, bare beam & block floor
Radon Barrier & Insulation laid.
Under Floor Heating pipes laid.

Screed due in tomorrow to cover pipes.

Quick Pics

2006-11-20T11:03:00.000Z

Here's some progress pics

I've also contacted Blogger support and they assure me that the comments feature is working!

Roof up, plumber down

2006-11-17T13:37:00.000Z

Weather permitting the house has continued to progress, Bryn our roofer has 80% finished, and we're pleased with the look of the tiles we've chosen (Redland/Lafarge DuoPlain rustic brown).

They look like the tiles on our existing flat i.e. small tiles. The sunroom roof will be completed once the brick/blockwork is built.

Framewise sent a second gang to complete the timber frame, which we were glad about, as they paid more attention to detail than the first (sub-contract) erectors, and everything looks a lot tidier now.

Windows are going in as I type this, and there is 1km of pipe at the bottom of the stairs of the flat, ready for the underfloor heating installation commencing on Monday.

We're struggling to find a plumber at the moment, as the plumber we had lined up (Graham Douglas) has tripled his original quotation, and told us he can't meet the previously agreed installation date!!
Any recommendations welcome! (please!)

timber skeleton

2006-11-05T22:06:00.000Z

Hello from Ravensbrook!
The timber frame and roof trusses are nearly complete, roofer is due in tomorrow to start felting, battens & roof tiles.

There's some snagging by the frame erectors to complete too, but we're still making good progress.

The blue fabric is a breather membrane and the roofing 'felt' will actually be a higher performance waterproof breather membrane, kind of gore-tex for houses

Ben has been busy laying bricks, and is getting quite handy with a trowell!

We've booked a date for the under floor heating installation, and are awaiting quotes for plumbing and electrical installations.
Once the roof is covered the windows will be installed, and we'll have a waterproof shell. The brickies will come back and clad the outside, and all sorts of stuff can carry on inside. Many busy weekends (and evenings to come).

Bricks

2006-10-28T22:08:00.000+01:00

We ordered some samples of bricks, as it's impossible to tell what a brick will look like by looking at a photo - so don't go by the photos on the blog. We've chosen a Terca brick, Chester Dark Red Multi, which we intend to use a light grey mortar with. The trend nowadays is to use coloured mortar to either match the brick colour, or to contrast; we realised we prefered older properties with straightforward sand/cement mortar, with the particular shade of grey varying depending on cement used (blue circle/rugby/castle etc).
Sarah asked Terca for some sample bricks, and they sent us 60 each of two colours we liked the look of, enabling Ben and I to build a sample panel, to see how the bricks would look set in mortar. The colour is generally red, with purple & brown - not that you can tell from the photo.
Can you tell who built which panel?

Unfortunately I managed to drive a digger into the panels and bring them crashing down, so the pics are all we've got until the brickies come back!

Mixed Day

2006-10-25T09:15:00.000+01:00

Monday saw the brickies run in a couple of courses round the beams ready for the installation of the soleplate.
Tuesday morning, while having my breakfast, a lorry full of house panels arrived. In reversing down the drive the driver turned a neighbours fence to matchwood (literally), and exiting the drive once unloaded he churned up another neighbours front lawn! Not a good start to the day, and many apologies and promises to rectify damage to remarkably understading neighbours.
When I got home from work, the whole ground floor had been erected! and scaffold on it's way up for the first floor.
We were able to walk through the various rooms, and finally get a feel for the size of the house - which now seems big!
We are now seeing the house progress rapidly - the beauty of timber frame construction.

Block Party

2006-10-24T22:32:00.000+01:00

Busy weekend!
63 cocncrete beams were delivered last Friday, and we planned to install them over the weekend. Friends and family were roped in for a weekends hard labour installing the 7.7ton beam and block floor. Big thanks to (in no particular order) the Webbers, Johnsons, 2Joes, Gramp, for all their hard graft. We managed to install all the beams, and all the full infill blocks on Saturday.

Ben is particularly enjoying seeing the house take shape (after months of asking 'are we building the house today Mum/Dad?) and enjoys being outside (getting muddy!) while we're busy.

Sunday saw all the cut blocks installed, screed applied to lock the blocks in place, and telescopic vents (to ventilate sub-floor)installed in 8 hours non stop rain.
We've managed to get to 'oversite' (foundations & ground floor slab) in 2 weeks holiday and a few weekends! - with many aching muscles.

The immediate schedule is:
Monday - brickies to complete a few walls around the beam & blocks.
Tuesday - scaffold & commence timber frame installation.

of which, more later!

Ciao

2006-10-13T22:47:00.000+01:00

A lot has happened since the last posting. I've had a fortnights holiday to commence the build properly. To save some money I'm carrying out as much of the groundworks as possible (with my brother Joe's help). Here's whats happened:

First we stripped the topsoil, and ducted under the driveway for gas, water, electric - so that we don't have to dig our access up three times. Then we could stone up the road ~ 9 inches of crusher run on geotextile, should be sufficient for lorries to drive on.

Now the house proper, mark out the foundations and excavate. 1m deep minimum, 2m adjacent to the trees. We used a level to to keep the depth consistent and minimise the concrete we require.
We had a nightmare of a day for the first concrete pour. Joe had enlisted two of his friends to help with the pour, as most of it would have to be barrowed (beyond the reach of the excavator). Some of the sides of the excavation had fallen in overnight, due to the rain, and had to be dug out by hand. Of course it continued to rain, but we managed to clean out the excavation before the first load of concrete arrived. It took 2 hours to discharge the first concrete truck (6 cubic meters, about 15t), and had to cancel the second as more of the excavation had collapsed in the rain. Not a good day.
The next day we'd arranged for a lorry to collect some of the spoil from the excavations, and managed to get the lorry bogged down as he drove off the end of our stoned road! three hour delay waiting for a second lorry to tow it out. At least we shifted about 32 cubic meters of muck.

On the middle Saturday of my fortnight off, Ken (an excavator driver from work) came to re-dig the worst of the collapsed excavation, and generally tidy up the access and mound of spoil.
Monday we had a second attempt at pouring the foundations - success, and the following day set aside for accurately marking out the house on the foundations and delivery of materials (the first 1000 concrete blocks for the foundations, 0.5t cement, 16t sand).

Early hours of Wednesday I'm woken by thunder and very heavy rain, which thankfully stopped by the time the brickies arrived. First trades we've employed on site, and it's exciting to see the blocks go in.

The brickies finished all the blockwork in the sub-structure (1400 blocks) Friday. The plan for next weekend is to fit our 'beam & block' ground floor. Keep watching!

100MPH

2006-09-27T22:18:00.000+01:00

Wow
a lot has happened since the last entry.
We had no news for two weeks, then on the 16th the land transfers completed, and we had our access!
We've had a weekend of garden clearance, cutting our way through the neighbours shrubs to create our drive, then a weekend of fencing to seperate the gardens (and some busy evenings in between. The view is from the plot looking towards our drive, we'll replace the fencing on the other side as we near completion on the house. Gramp helped out a lot with the clearance and fencing.
We've even fitted in an evening to place the order for our timber frame. http://www.framewiseltd.co.uk/ It's scheduled for delivery 26th Oct, by which time we must strip topsoil, install ducts for services, hardcore road, dig strip foundations, build up blockwork (1500 concrete blocks), prep & cast ground floor slab, erect scaffold. Phew - not all by ourselves, we will enlist some contractors.
This weekend we let loose with an excavator, courtesy of my employers Lewis Ltd http://www.dlce.co.uk/.
It's non stop action from here on in!

It's Official (nearly)

2006-08-22T11:20:00.000+01:00

We've had verbal confirmation from the council that our address can/will be 'Lowben Drive'!
For those of you who hadn't worked it out - our kids Lowri & Ben. We thought Lowben House sounded to grand/pompous for the house we're building. If we ever build again it'll be Benlow Heights ;-)
We've transfered our red & black currants (heavily pruned) to the allotment, in preperation for the site clearance. When we started there was waist height weeds & grass, so we've cleared it & covered it to stop anymore weeds coming thru' before we can prepare beds & plant (next spring?). We've still got to transfer the loganberries, which means riging up some sort of post & wire for them to climb. During the clearance Sarah found an adder - about 50cm long http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipera_berus, under some old carpet. After frantic digging after it as it dissapeared down a hole, we had to wait 5 minutes for my Steve Irwin impression. When it later emerged, I tried to pick it up behind it's head but didn't recon on its flexibility, and it managed to bite me three times before I got hold of the tip of its tail. Fortunatey I was wearing rubber gloves.
Half an hour previously Lowri (20 months old) was rolling round on the floor near there, and sat at Bens collection of worms in a bucket, holding one in each hand saying 'snakes'. Thankfully no-one was bitten, but the consequences could have been very serious.
For the record I released it some distance away, but I wonder if I should have dispatched it for the childrens safety. We'll now gentrify as much of the allotment as we can to make it a less appealing habitat.
We have had 45cm slow worms in the garden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_worm) which I've encouraged Ben to pick up and handle, never thinking that one day he may encounter something more dangerous, so now he must check with Mum or Dad first.
The kids enjoy the allotment anyway, Ben intrigued by the bugs etc, Lowri just getting muddy!
hopefully in the next post we'll start the build proper!

Marked Out

2006-08-16T16:17:00.000+01:00

We've marked out the ground floor, to see how it sits on the plot. It seems small at the moment, and I'm sure it will look smaller still when we start excavating. Still hanging on for solicitors to sort everything out. Maybe this week?
Started clearing the allotment, so we've plenty of new aches between us. Not used to this digging lark. I'll have to take a photo of the allotment to include on the next post.

The Plot!

2006-08-10T17:08:00.000+01:00

This is the garden of No 20, just before it becomes Lowben Drive!Planning permission has been granted, we're currently waiting on solicitors to transfer documents for the access. We hope to be able to start to build in a week or two. Climb the steps of the slide in our lounge, whizz thru' the hall, and land in the kitchen (ie house is centred just forward of the slide). I will try to update this blog regularly throughout the build process, as a record for ourselves and to enable friends & family from far afield to see the progress (or not).

We've also just aquired an allotment! Our fruit bushes and pear trees will be safeguarded from the building process now, as we'll transplant them from the garden. There's a fair bit of clearance to do first, brambles & buddlea, It's brush-cutter, saw & bonfire time. We've inherited a (decrepid) shed and some fruit bushes with it, and its 90% rabbit fenced already. We've further plans for the allotment, to grow a lot of our own veggies, maybe keep bees. The kids can have a piece to grow their plants and involve them.

I think we'll be busy for the rest of the year!